Re-examination of historical and archaeological data related to the origin of the Kansa suggests the possibility that Oneota sites in northeastern Kansas previously identified as Kansa may be Oto. If this is the case, Kansa origins once again become a problem of interest. On the basis of settlement pattern and architectural continuities, it is argued that the Pomona variant of eastern Kansas and western Missouri is possibly ancestral to the Kansa.

Data available from 15 eastern Kansas Late Woodland sites, sequentially occupied over an approximately 500 year span of time (A.D. 500-1 000), have been assembled in an attempt to understand the nature of the adaptive system. Numerous small sites, situated on floodplain elevations or terrace remnants and in proximity to perpetually flowing streams, contain one or two impermanent house structures, a few small storage facilities, and hearths either within or without the house walls. Faunal and floral remains indicate a hunting-and-gathering reliance on a wide variety of native plants and animals supplemented, at least late in the sequence, by horticulture based on corn, squash, and sunflowers. Artifact assemblages, limited in size and variety, are almost entirely representative of activities related to procuring and processing various subsistence components. This pattern contrasts markedly with that of Middle Woodland Kansas City Hopewell nucleated villages; a contrast believed related to differentials in natural resource potential. Implications for the onset of agriculturally-based subsistence economies are explored.

Frequency of occurrence of plain and cord marked surface finishes in Late Woodland sherd samples from sites in eastern Kansas are used to arrange the sites in a series believed reflective of change through time (ca. A.D. 500-1 000). Changes observable in pottery surface finish are only one aspect of a systematic change in pottery vessels taking place during this time period, perhaps result in changes in cooking practices contingent on increasing use of agricultural products.

14WYB, situated near Edwardsville, Kansas, is a single-component site representative of terminal Kansas City Hopewell. Comparisons with other components with similar artifact assemblages, which are radiocarbon dated, demonstrates this terminal period to be from ca. A.D. 500 to A.D. BOO, and equivalent to early Late Woodland in the Illinois River Valley. Settlement and subsistence changes are not recognizable at this time, but do occur between A.D. BOO and A.D. 1000, perhaps as reflection of the adoption of agriculture as important to the subsistence base during the late Late Woodland period.

: The present report describes the results of the 1979 effort which involved geomorphological research, excavations at six prehistoric components (three Late Archaic and three Woodland), historic archival work, and investigations at five sites of the historic period. Contributions of the research include a better understanding of the dynamics of human subsistence and settlement patterns from ca. 3000 B.C. to A.D. 1000, a period which apparently witnessed significant climatic change and as well the introduction of several important technological innovations including agriculture, the bow-and-arrow, and pottery vessels. No less important is the enhanced understanding of the historic period resulting from the utilization of archaeological techniques to supplement the documentary record. This disciplinary cross-fertilization resulted in the acquisition of data helpful in understanding the adaptation of the Euroamerican settlers to their environment, the economic networks that were operating, and the social systems that existed.

Lacking until now has been the delineation of sequential change in Middle Woodland pottery vessel morphology and surface design units associated with radiometrically dated strata or trash-filled pits. Excavation at Mellor and Fisher-Gabert has allowed for formulation of a first-phase diachronic model of ceramic change, involving stratigraphically separable Havana and Hopewell series vessels which date from roughly A.D. 100 to 400. Correlated are Interaction Sphere artifacts, including Hopewell figurine fragments which date around A.D. 350. Two spatially distinct but contemporaneous phases, the Lamine and Big Bend, are proposed for the Havana Tradition. Settlement of the lower Missouri Valley is posited to have originated wtih a penetration of Illinois Valley Hopewell communities around A.D. 100.

During the summer of 1971, a field party from the Museum of Anthropology at the University of Kansas conducted an intensive archaeological- ·survey along Brush Creek, a tributary of the Missouri River four miles west of Parkville, Missouri. Data collected during this survey provides a preliminary characterization of the local environmental setting and a comparativecontrastive statement on prehistoric settlement pattern variability from the Early Archaic to the Steed-Kisker phase.Topographic, geological, and botanical features of importance in establishing the parameters of effective biophysical environments for prehistoric occupants are summarized, and four resource zones tentatively identified: an upland prairie zone, an oak-history forest zone, a river-bottom forest zone and the Missouri River itself. Although the time depth for these resource zones is unknown, their presence throughout the history of man’s presence is a possibility.Aspects of the human occupation and utilization of Brush Creek valley, which began as early as 8000 B.C., are viewed as adaptations to the local environmental setting. During the Archaic period (8000 B.C.-A.D. 1), £rush Creek valley was apparently exploited by hunters and gatherers who established short-duration camps. A large and probably permanent village was established during the period of Kansas City Hopewell occupation (A.D. 1-500), although small, temporary, camps were also in evidence. The Late Woodland occupation (A.D. 500-1 000) is marked by small sites with little evidence of any long term occupation. The final occupation of the valley, by Steed-Kisker peoples (A.D. 1 000-1250), is characterized by a pattern of many small homesteads occupied by populations who made their living through a combination of hunting, gathering, and horticulture.

By means of a contract with the National Park Service, and additional support from the University, the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas conducted archaeological salvage investigations in the northern part of the Tuttle Creek Reservoir of north-central Kan5as in 1957. Excavations were conducted at five sites, of which the Budenbender site (14P04) proved most productive. The present report describes excavations at Budenbender, the discoveries made, and interprets the data from the excavations in terms of current archaeological interest and taxonomic usages. The single house completely excavated at Sudanbender is identified as a component of the Central Plains tradition, and is placed in the Smoky Hill regional variant of that tradition.

Data from 55 archaeological sites located during the course of a survey of a portion of Nine Mile Creek northeast of Lawrence, Kansas were analyzed as the focus of a seminar at the University of Kansas in 1969. The recognition of significant variation in lithic debris samples from the Nine Mile Creek sites resulted in the development of a seriational procedure and an explanatory model in terms of temporally changing subsistence patterns.